It is well known that considerable difficulty is encountered when attempting to reposition a filing cabinet, particularly once it has some contents, in view of its cumbersome nature which is aggravated by the absence of any real handholds for maneuvering the cabinet from one place to another and emplacing it correctly at its new location. Especial difficulty is experienced when moving lateral filing cabinets which can easily twist and deform during manhandling thereby potentially causing damage or at least compromising structural integrity.
It is well known to use what is commonly known as a dolly consisting of a small wheeled platform provided with an appropriate handle giving sufficient leverage and mechanical advantage to enable an operator to load the platform and to tilt the same and then to wheel the load from one location to another. For relatively small items and also for those with a degree of inbuilt stability such a dolly is fit for the purpose. However, for the task of moving a filing cabinet such a dolly is not so convenient or indeed safe in view of the awkwardness and weight involved.
Various proposals have been made to address the problem of moving a lateral filing cabinet and in particular U.S. Pat. No. 6,880,837 to Nadram et al discloses a dolly designed for this purpose. However, this prior art dolly suffers from a number of disadvantages including the orientation of the cabinet when loaded, namely that its narrower side is embraced by the dolly thereby giving rise to instability during cabinet loading and unloading movements. Furthermore, this dolly has no lifting feature and thus the effort required by the operator remains significant.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved filing cabinet dolly that avoids the disadvantages associated with existing and conventional dollies as outlined supra.